Optical attachment for player-pianos



D. S. GRAHAM.

OPTICAL ATTACHMENT FOR PLAYER PIANOS.

APPLICATION FILED lAN.22| I919.

Patented Oct. 12, 1920.

Winess:

DELLWIN S GRAHAM,

' PAT m OFFICE.

OF DAVENPORT, IOWA.

' OPTICAL amaonmmrrroa PLAYER-PIAENQS. 3

To all whom it may comrern Beit known that I, DELLWIN GRAHAM, A

a citizen of the United 'States, residin at Davenport, in the county ofScott'and tate of Iowa, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Optical Attachments of whichthe following is for PlayerPianos, a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in player-pianos and it has forits object pro- 'vlding means for making conveniently visible anycharacters or words which it is desired to have accompany the noteswhich the player-pianos are producing.

It is customary with player-pianos for the paper record to be mounted onrolls and to be moved downwardly across the trackerbar of theplayer-piano, the perforations in the record, as is well known,operating, by pneumatic means, the various notes of the piano. It isoften desired to see the characters which represent the notes which arebeing played, and also to have words of the music conveniently placed.When the notes or words are printed on the paper record, parallel withthe'series of perforations, and thus moving vertically tions, it isdifiicult to read the notes or the words, not only because of thevertical direction of movement, but'also because it is necessary to readrelatively upwardly instead of downwardly. The purpose of my inventionis to eliminate these disadvantages by producing images of the notes orwords, which are conveniently placed, and are of such forms anddimensions as are most suitable for the use of the operator of theplayer-piano or others. Other objects of the invention will be apparentfrom a consideration of the accompanying drawings and the followingdescription thereof.

Figure 1 is' a plan view of apparatus which illustrates the features ofmy invention. Fig. 2 is an elevation, of the same. Fig. 3 is a sectionalong the line 33 of Fig. 2. And Fig. 4 is a fragmental View of a paperrecord which may be used with the player-piano in'conjunction with theapparatus.

Although I have herein illustrated and described the form andarrangement of apparatus which I prefer for the purpose of illustratingmy invention, yet it is to be understood that many modifications may be65 made therein, by those skilled in the art,

without departing from the spirit of my Specification of Letters Patent.

with the perfora-- Patented Oct. 12, 1920;

Application filed January 22, 1919. Serial No. 272,406.

invention, claims. Without illustrating to any material exte nt theelements of the player-piano, it is to be understood that the paperrecord 8 of the player is caused, by suitable rollers 9 and 10, to movedownwardly along the trackeras set forth hereinafter by the bar 11,perforations 12 opening at the I proper time the air ports 13 of thetrackerar. As is indicated in Fig. 4, characters, which represent thenotes 14 which are being played by the player-piano, are printed on therecord parallel with the rows of perforations, and pass down over thetracker-bar as indicated. It is desired to produce an ima e of thesenotes that ma be convenient y seen by the operator. Tb accomplish this Iuse a plurality of mirrors, suitably mounted and arranged so as to form,by a series of reflections from the various reflecting surfaces of themirrors suitable images. The. light passes from the notes 14 to themirror 15, the surface of which is arranged,

for the purpose ofillustration, substantially vertically, but whichforms an angle of substantially 45 with the plane of the paper record.The light passes from this mirror to a mirror 16, the reflecting surfaceof which in this instance, is inclined at an angle 0 substantially 45with the horizontal, with its plane, however, being substantially atright angles to the record. Light then passes from this mirror to mirror17, which is arranged horizontally, but with its plane forming more orless of an angle with the record, so that the images of the notes formedthereby may be conveniently viewed by the operator. By this arrangementnot only are images formed in a convenient position to be viewed; but,as, is hereinafter described, by properly curving some, or all of themirrors, the shapes of the images may be distorted with reference to theoriginals,-

sufficiently the set screw 40, the arm can be lifted off from the pins22 and removed from the tracker-bar. At the outer end of the arm 20 themirror'15' is pivoted in any suitable manner, for instance by means ofthe pivot 23 fixed to the arm, and the bracket 24 fixed to the mirror.By means of the set screw 25 the mirror may be set in the properposition with reference to the characters that are to be reflected andthe remainder of the apparatus.

Also fixed to the outer end of the arm 20 is a bracket 26, which isarranged to support, by an arm 27, the mirror 16 by means of the bracket28 and the pivot 29. A seeond arm 30 also projects from the bracket 26and is arranged to support the mirror 17. This mirror may be pivotallysupported by the arm in a manner similar to that of the other mirrors,or it, or-either of the other mirrors, may be supported by a universaljoint. In this instance I prefer to support the mirror 17 by theuniversal joint 31 shown in Fig. 3. In order to more conveniently makeadjustments, any suitable friction means may be provided for any of themirrors, so that the mirrors may be readily rotated to the positiondesired and will then be held in place without loosening or tighteningthe set screws. I prefer for this purpose a friction device comprising ashoe 32 backed by a spring 33, the compressive force of the spring'beingvaried by means of the screw 25.

By the use of this apparatus it will be seen that, by suitably adjustingthe mirrors on the pivots, the light from the characters can bereflected properly so as to be cast outwardly from mirror 17 in anysuitable direction. The mirrors themselves may be supported by anysuitable backs; and the entire apparatus, particularly the backs of themirrors themselves, may be finished in any suitable manner and by theuse of any suitable substance, such as wood, plush, or the like.

Also the reflecting surfaces of the mirrors may be plane or curved, asmay be desired to meet the needs or the views of users. Inasmuch as, bythe use of the characters 'printed on the paper record, it is necessaryto spread the characters out somewhat abnormally in a verticaldirection, I prefer to have the mirror 16 longitudinally somewhatconcave and cylindrical in shape. Thus as the images are reflected fromthis mirror they will be condensed somewhat longitudinally which isequivalent to condensing the characters themselves vertically; so thatthe abnormal separation of the characters apparently disappears. Also,as, frequently,

it may be desired to crowd the characters together somewhat horizontallybecause of lack of space on the paper record, or otherwise, I prefer tohave the reflecting surface plane mirrors; and other means may be usedfor producing distortions such as the curvature of-mirror 15; or, ifdiminishing or enlarging of the entire characters 15 desired,

convex or concave spherical mirrors may be used. In order to indicate tothe observer the particular notes as they are being played,

or the words which are to accompan such notes, I provide a pointer 35,which is held adjacent the paper record in any suitable manner; forexample by means of a bar 36, slidably mounted on the back of the mirror15 by means of clips 37, and set in place by means of a set screw. 38.The image of this pointer projected by the mirror 17 will thus beadjacent the images of the notes or words as they are being played. Asecond pointer 35, (Fig. 2) may be used, if desired, in order toindicate not only the proper notes or words, but also the length of thenotes, the distance between the pointers representing a certain timelength. This would serve for various purposes, for instance, a pupilwould thus be aided in counting time correctly.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a player-piano, a paper record having characters printed thereonand arranged to be moved downwardly, in combination with means forproducing conveniently visible images of said characters; said meanscomprising a first mirror mounted adjacent said characters, and arran edto receive light therefrom and to re ect said light substantiallyhorizontally and substantially parallel with the plane of said record, asecond mirror mounted adjacent said first mirror and arranged to receivethe said refl'ected light from said first mirror and to reflect saidlight downwardly; and a third mirror mounted beneath said second mirrorarranged to receive said reflected light from said second mirror and toreflect said light upwardly to a position conveniently visible by theoperator of the player piano; said mirrors being pivotally mounted forconvenient and rapid adjustment, and said second mirror having acylindrical concave reflecting surface, and said third mirror paving a.cylindrical convex reflecting surace.

2. In a player-piano, a paper record having characters printed thereon,and arranged to be moved downwardly, in combination with means forproducing conveniently visible images of said characters; said meanscomprising a first mirror mounted adjacent said characters, and arrangedto receive light therefrom .and to reflect said light substantiallyhorizontally and substantially parallel with the plane of said record, asecond mirror mounted adjacent said first mirror and arranged to receivethe said reflected light from said first mirror and to reflect saidlight downwardly; and a third mirror mounted beneath said second mirrorarranged to receive said reflected light fromsaid second mirror and toreflect said light upwardly to a position conveniently visible by theoperator of the playerpiano; said second mirror having a cylindricalconcave reflecting surface, and said third mirrorhaving a cylindricalconvex reflecting surface.

3. In a player-piano, a paper record having characters printed thereon,and arranged to be moved downwardly, in combination with means forproducing conveniently visible images of said characters; said meanscomprising a first mirror mounted adjacent said characters and arrangedto receive light therefrom and to reflect said light substan-' tiallyhorizontally and substantially parallel with the plane of said record, asecond mirror mounted adjacent said first mirror and arranged toreceivethe said reflected light from said first mirror and to reflect saidlight downwardly; and a third mirror mounted beneath said second mirrorarranged to receive said reflected light from said second mirror and toreflect said light upwardly to a position conveniently visible by theoperator of the player-piano.

4:. In a player-piano, a paper record hav- Q ing characters printedthereon, and arranged to be moved downwardly, in combination wlth meansfor producing convenientlyvisible images of said characters; said meanscomprising a first mirror mounted adjacent said characters and arrangedto receive light therefrom and to reflect said light substantiallyhorizontally and sub stantially parallel with the plane of said rec-"ord, a second mirror mounted adjacent said first mirror and arranged toreceive the said reflected light from said first mirror and to reflectsaid light downwardly; and a third mirror mounted beneath said secondmirror arranged to receive said reflected light from said second mirrorand to reflect said light upwardly to a position conveniently visible bythe operator of the player-piano, one of said mirrors having a curvedsurface.

5. In a player-piano, a paper record having characters printed thereon,and arranged to be moved downwardly, in combination with means forproducing conveniently visible images of said characters; said meanscomprising a first mirror mounted adjacent said characters, and arrangedto receive light therefrom and to reflect said light substantiallyhorizontally and substantially parallel with the plane of said record, asecond mirror mounted adjacent said first mirror and arranged to receivethe said reflected light from said first mirror and to reflect saidlight downwardly; and a third mirror mounted beneath said second mirrorarranged to receive said reflected light from said second mirror and toreflect said light upwardly to a position conveniently visible by theoperator of the player-piano, said mirrors being pivotally mounted forconvenient and rapid adjustment.

6. In a player piano, a paper record having characters printed thereonarranged to be moved, in combination with means for producing visibleimages of said characters; said means comprising a first mlrror arrangedto receive light from said recordedjacent said characters and to reflectsaid light substantially at right angles to the direction of movement ofsaid record, and

substantially parallel with the plane of said record, a second mirrormounted and arranged to receive the said reflected light from said firstmirror and to reflect said hand.

DELLWIN S. GRAHAM.

